Week 11 Mon Oct 30 to Friday Nov 4
Handout One element of Native American spiritual life includes ideas relating to causation/order and negation/disorder. These ideas are often expressed in the myths and stories relating to tricksters. As Paul Radin (an anthropologist) has noted:
Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself . . . He possesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites, yet through his actions all values come into being. . . (Paul Radin, The Trickster, A Study in American Indian Mythology, Schocken Books, N.Y.)
The closest we have in our mythology/stories are the cartoon character Wily Coyote, or perhaps Tweety bird. For this week, read the story in the texbook, Raven steals the light. In this tale, Raven is the trickster.
This week begins Native American Month - November. Our library has developed a useful resource - here's the link.
Textbook Readings
"Raven Steals the Light" Reid and Bringhurst pg 156
Handout
One element of Native American spiritual life includes ideas relating to causation/order and negation/disorder. These ideas are often expressed in the myths and stories relating to tricksters. As Paul Radin (an anthropologist) has noted:
Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself . . . He possesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites, yet through his actions all values come into being. . . (Paul Radin, The Trickster, A Study in American Indian Mythology, Schocken Books, N.Y.)
The closest we have in our mythology/stories are the cartoon character Wily Coyote, or perhaps Tweety bird. For this week, read the story in the texbook, Raven steals the light. In this tale, Raven is the trickster.
This week begins Native American Month - November. Our library has developed a useful resource - here's the link.
Textbook Readings
"Raven Steals the Light" Reid and Bringhurst pg 156Webquest
Tricksters - due Tues Nov 7 Webquest 5.
Online Reading
Here is more discussion on how tricksters 'work' in Native American storytellingSupplementary Sources